How DonorsChoose.org Is Encouraging Teachers to Seek Virtual Resources

How DonorsChoose.org Is Encouraging Teachers to Seek Virtual Resources

Conventionally, the education industry has been a cash-strapped elephant across the globe. Incredibly, while other sectors have gracefully embraced digitisation and technology, education, for the most part, still lags behind. If you’re here thinking you’ve seen a host of new educational services on the internet, you’re right. But you see, there are two faces of education. The first is the face you see on the internet, of search engines arranging numerous course websites in quick succession when you enter ‘online courses’. And the other is the one of brick-and-mortar institutions, of schools and colleges that are rooted in a physical campus. It’s the latter concept that has traditionally struggled with creating an infrastructural ecosystem for faculty. It’s this chasm that led to the birth of DonorsChoose.org.

What is DonorsChoose.org?

Donorschoose.org is a crowdfunding website that links teachers at various educational institutions with individual donors to fund material resources for their classroom. The minimum donation that a contributor can make is pegged at $1 and there is no maximum threshold for a donation. A listed campaign is accompanied by a description as well as a list of resources required. But imagine how much more effective this would be if teachers could emote through video, which serves as a much more engaging medium. The website stacks campaign records to allow donors to find records by school name, teacher name, location, subject or material. It then collects money raised from a campaign to buy resources required by a teacher and sends them across to the address mentioned. All donors are sent pictures keeping them posted on the progress of the campaign in the classroom. Contributors who have given donations in excess of $50 are sent a handwritten note of thanks.

How Could Video Help DonorsChoose.org?

While DonorChoose.org currently powers campaigns purely through written descriptions, there is scope in educational crowdfunding campaigns for video. Not only would this allow donors to view detailed videos posted by teachers, it could lend real authenticity to a campaign. Teachers could showcase their story, their journey and their progress by creating videos as they go along. With Pinlearn, that’s possible for any crowdfunding site. A turnkey technology that plugs right into your existing website, Pinlearn allows you to create unique, individual accounts for teachers, giving each one the power to create their own identity through videos.

What Technology Powers DonorsChoose.org?

DonorsChoose.org is made up of multiple technology layers, including a Nginx web server, Google Analytics and Optimizely for analytics, and AJAX Libraries for content delivery. Its JavaScript libraries are vast, holding frameworks like JQuery, Handlebars and React within their folds. Much like its crowdfunding counterparts, DonorsChoose.org, relies on descriptive campaigns to advocate its causes. If you were to set up an educational crowdfunding platform of your own, consider adding a video feature to it to allow users to document their causes via video. Pinlearn’s beautifully scripted framework is tailored for the education sector.

What Is DonorsChoose.org’s Monetisation Model?

Oh, but what’s the fun in that, you must be thinking. We agree. What is the fun in that? If you’re an aspiring business owner with a blazing entrepreneurial spirit, a robust monetisation model is essential in keeping you fired up. There are three key ways by which you can get your revenue going.

Creator Fees

This is a model that scoops up a sliver of the funds raised by a campaign creator. For instance, if DonorsChoose.org was for-profit, it may have taken a 3-4% margin from the schools or teachers that used its platform.

Subscription Fees

Gaining resources to fund a specific need is a temporary solution for teachers and educational institutions. While this fulfillment may fulfill a partial need, it’s likely that recurring funds will be needed to support an ongoing infrastructural overhaul. Through this model, you could charge an annual subscription for a fixed number of campaigns. In fact, you could even chalk out packages at different rates, each offering a unique campaign count

How Can I Build My Own DonorsChoose.org?

When it comes to the education sector, you should know that your market is already demarcated into public and private. Private institutions may not seek active crowdfunding because they are likely already flushed with funds. Your most probable target then, are public schools and community colleges. In developed countries like the US and the UK, government-funded institutions may be financially well-equipped to subscribe to a crowdfunding programme. And although the majority of them are granted adequate funds by the government, there may be resources that they’d like to fund through crowdfunding, such as a wheelchair for a handicapped child, or a bicycle for a child who lives a considerable distance away from school. Personal causes don’t fall under the government purview but warrant attention. Crowdfunding can help. So can Pinlearn.

Creating your own crowdfunding platform can give you enormous comfort in knowing that you’re effecting a societal change. Serve your business and your community, one video campaign at a time.